


Twilight Deep

by llewynn



Series: Corazon Week 2020 [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Corazon Week 2020, Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante Lives, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:27:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25615066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llewynn/pseuds/llewynn
Summary: [loneliness / silence]Even deep underwater with the submarine asleep, Rosinante had never felt less lonely.
Series: Corazon Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1821829
Comments: 2
Kudos: 66





	Twilight Deep

Rosinante had been over the Red Line; first when his family left the Holy Land and embarked on Donquixote Homing’s ill-fated quest for them to become human, and then with the Marines when the ships he served on eventually made their way across the Blues and the Grand Line. He’d been to Enies Lobby on one assignment, and spent most of his ensign years at Headquarters training under the watchful eyes of his mentors, Sengoku and Instructors Zephyr and Blake and — far less occasionally — Vice Admiral Garp. He’d sailed most of the Blues with the Marines and then with the Donquixote Pirates, and he knew the North Blue like the back of his hand after spending six months searching every island for a hospital that would save the life of a young boy with Amber Lead disease. 

He’d been around, is the point, but even his varied years of travel and discovery couldn’t stop him from marvelling anew every time the _Polar Tang_ went underwater. Shachi and Bepo had told him tales of the sea 10,000 meters beneath the surface, when the Heart Pirates had sailed to Fishman Island, and how it was like a different world altogether; how the deep sea creatures were nothing they had ever seen before, bizarre and miraculous beyond their wildest dreams, and how eerie it was when they were so deep that sunlight couldn’t reach, their path lit by the singular beam of the ship’s headlight. Now, as they made their way to Wano at a mere depth of 300 meters, Rosinante could only imagine how much more miraculous and magical the deep sea would be. He hoped to find out one day, now that he had this second chance at life with Law and his crew. 

_His crewmates now_ , he thought giddily, smiling to himself. The _Polar Tang_ had docked at a port island that had been relatively bustling with trade; ostensibly to restock supplies and give Rosinante a chance to get himself sorted out with his own things (Law had made a face at the mismatched clothes he was wearing and sent him out on a shopping trip with Ikkaku and Clione, both of whom had only been too happy to get Rosinante looking less like a raggedy scarecrow), but also to celebrate his officially joining the Heart Pirates. That night, they watched excitedly as Rosinante set fire to his tattered pink shirt, laughing and cheering when he inevitably caught fire himself, and welcomed him into the crew with a party that lasted well until the sunrise. The Straw Hat crew that were travelling with them joined in the festivities as well, the long-nosed one and the speedo-wearing cyborg setting off fireworks that whistled loudly as they rocketed into the sky and burst into a thousand bright colours. The Straw Hats’ swordsman had contributed some high quality sake to the party and their archeologist kindly and quickly updated him on what had happened in the world in the thirteen years that he had been dead. With his new crewmates around him rowdy and boisterous in celebration, Law smiling wider than he’d ever seen him, Rosinante thought he couldn’t possibly be any happier.

Three days later, Uni presented him with his very own set of boilersuit, perfectly tailored for his size and the Heart Pirates’ Jolly Roger embroidered proudly on the left breast, and proved Rosinante dead wrong. He’d burst into tears right there and then, to Uni’s panic and the laughter of the rest of the crew.

Rosinante thought he might well memorise the sound of their laughter soon, so often and easily cheered the crew were sometimes. Even Law wasn’t immune to their infectious joy, a small curl to the corner of his mouth gracing his face more often than not as his crew laughed about something or other.

Now, as they sailed 300 meters beneath the ocean’s surface, the _Polar Tang_ was silent save for the whir of the submarine’s machinery, and the faint beeping of the various consoles in the control room. The galley was empty, the two cooks having retired for the night, leaving Rosinante with a mug of hot chocolate and a warm farewell. He could hear the control team on duty tonight bickering amongst themselves; something about a card game, someone cheating and the general hubbub that accompanied such baseless accusations.

(It wasn't baseless; half the crew were vicious card sharks and the other half were reckless with their dice, and Rosinante had eventually learned how perilous game nights on the _Polar Tang_ could be.)

For the most part, Rosinante was alone in the galley, left to his own devices with only his thoughts and the view outside the galley’s porthole for company. At 300 meters, the _Polar Tang_ was in what was called the aphotic zone where light from the surface barely reached them, growing fainter and fainter the deeper they went. Occasionally Rosinante would see a flash of silver outside the glass, the faint moonlight reflecting off the shiniest fish that darted curiously past the submarine, but other than that the view outside the porthole was one of unending darkness. 

Yet curiously, Rosinante had never felt less lonely.

Back when he was part of the rank and file in the Marines, there had never been a moment of peace. Be it in barracks or training grounds, or on ships that they’d served on, he’d find himself stuck with other seamen and non-commissioned officers packed together like sardines in a can. It wasn’t any better when he became Commander, either — there would always be something requiring his attention, or a command from higher up about some problem or other that he needed to settle. And always, there was that sense of loneliness that struck bone-deep, even as he was surrounded by people. When he was with Sengoku, or smiling at the other recruits’ roughhousing, or leading a Marine ship into battle, he was alone.

With the Donquixote Pirates, that loneliness became abject in its terror. He had to constantly be careful, always playing the part of the mute fool, so that his own brother wouldn’t execute him. He had his brother by his side, children who looked up to him, what was ostensibly a _family_ — and he was the loneliest he had ever been. Lonelier than when their mother died, and then their father, and then Doflamingo himself in his eyes. He was beloved, then, the Heart of the Donquixote Pirates, and he still felt so lonely.

Here, in the bowels of a submarine sunk where the light barely reached, in the dead of the night when most of the crew were asleep, that loneliness was nowhere to be found. There was only a strange sense of joyful gratitude that sunk deep within him, wrapping around his heart like a warm vice. It felt like Shachi and Bepo’s enthusiastic stories of the deep, and Penguin’s concerned eye watching over them all. It felt like a shopping trip to make him feel at home, the glint in Clione's eyes, Ikkaku’s smiling face and Uni’s sheepish grin as he presented Rosinante his boilersuit. It felt like arms slung over his shoulders, stories and booze and memories shared, fireworks in the night sky and Law’s head thrown back in laughter, face creased in joy. 

It felt like peace. It felt like belonging.

It felt like home.

Donquixote Rosinante was finally home.

**Author's Note:**

> A short one this time. Work has been nuts, y'all.
> 
> Maybe I'll rewrite this one day, I don't know.
> 
> Also if you're wondering who's Blake: she's a self-indulgent OC of mine who may or may not make an appearance in some future fics.


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